The staging of discord: Cinematographic consumption and the formation of middle-class culture in Belle Époque carioca

Abstract

Following the perspective of Cultural History guided by questions related to ethnography, this work analyzes the formation of a middle-class culture in the beginning of XX^th century in Rio de Janeiro, by observing some practices related to cinematographic consumption. Focusing on a protest by students against a film exhibitor and its consequences, we launched the questions: a) which relations can we draw between these students and a middle-class culture in the beginning of the XX^th century? and, as a secondary issue, b) to what extent the making of a protest against the owner of a cinema reveals some sources of tension between cinema exhibitors and the public? The treatment of sources (23 articles published in eight newspapers between May 14^th and May 31^st, 1913) is based on the scientific paradigm, a methodology proposed by historian Carlo Ginzburg, which has been guiding this research in the collections of National Library of Brazil.

Keywords:
consumption; cinema; Rio de Janeiro; middle class